Jandarshan The Chhattisgarh Media Centre
grew out of a digital video access course, which was part of a three
year project funded by the EU-India Economic Cross-Cultural Programme.
Jandarshan was the Hindi name of the project, known in English as Images
in Social Change Network , or ISCN. The aim was to promote use of
digital media in research, education and development relating to social
change : management was by a network consisting of a British Co-ordinator,
one British, one German and one Indian partner. The course was run from
a training unit in Bhilai, close to the Chhattisgarh Capital, Raipur. In
2002, after the project was completed, the Indian partner, The
Deshbandhu Newspaper, with the agreement of the European partners, set
up a community video Centre which acquired the assets of the training
unit, employed as staff the former students and set out to continue and
develop the work started under the project. The organisation, which is
constituted as an educational society, kept the name, ‘Jandarshan’.

Vision

Jandarshan is based on a vision of human
society organised by principles of democracy, social justice,
secularism, human dignity and plurality of cultures.

Mission

Our Mission is to work with digital video
and new media to promote those principles in Chhattisgarh, in India and
beyond by pursuing the following objectives :-

To increase access to careers in
professional audio visual media for men and women from deprived
communities,

To improve the visibility in the media of
women and people from deprived communities,

To document the realities of social and
cultural life during the period of rapid social and economic change,

To improve public education about film and
television and their role in forming opinion.

Strategy

Jandarshan’s strategy combines training,
production, and education. The training is oriented to help people from
relatively deprived backgrounds to enter the professional media.
Production is focused as far as possible, on documenting and expressing
the experiences of a wide range of people in central India. It is also,
however, an important way of generating income to support Jandarshan and
therefore, some productions are undertaken more to provide work and
experience for the staff than because their subject or context is
directly related to the overall mission. Education is linked with
production since the process is often educational for participants and
the end product may be used in education or may be educational in a
broader sense of widening horizons or stimulating debate.

Programme

Jandarshan runs a one-year diploma course
in digital video for up to 12 students the majority of whom receive
scholarships to pay for their training.

Jandarshan undertakes paid production
commissions from a variety of sponsors and also shoots material on its
own initiative and develops potential productions for which it seeks
commissions.

The production work feeds in to the
development of a video archive, which is a reasource for research and
education as well as for further productions.

Jandarshan arranges screenings of its own
and other films, contributes to conferences and other events and assists
organisations wishing to use video in social or educational programmes.

Staff and Management

There are 6 permanent faculty members. In
addition to this, visiting faculties are invited for teaching Sociology,
History, Culture etc. Some of them are Shri Sushil Gautam , Dr.Anil
Kalele, Shri Hemant Sehgel.

Shri Rajeev Ranjan Srivastava is working
as a part time C.E.O assisted by a part time Manager and a full time
office assistant who looks after archives, equipments and day-to-day
needs.

Training

The twelve students of the
04/05 batch completed the course and will shortly take their final
exams, For financial reasons a full time dedicated teacher was not
appointed but teaching was done by visiting faculty and by the
production staff. Although in some areas the lack of permanent faculty
was felt the students were able to turn out good work and even before
officially graduating nine of the students are working in the local
media.

One of Jandarshan staff
successfully applied to participate in an advanced training programme
run by the Thompson Foundation, UK under the EU-India Economic
Cross-cultural programme, Together with a Danish student he designed and
carried out a film about alcoholism in Denmark and India.

Production

In the year in review
Jandarshan completed nine sponsored commissions.These include films
about important Chhattisgarh issues:a docu-drama challenging the belief
in Tonhi,witchcraft,and Kharun Nadi Yatra which follows one river to
make points about water and the environment. Production teams also went
outside Chhattisgarh.One went to Rajasthan to make a Rain in the desert
on educational camps run by Seva Mandir another went to South India to
make a film for the Internation Federation or Builders and Woodworkers
(IFBWW) about projects their affiliates run with construction workers.

Finance

The main sources of
finance continue to be production commissions and students fees. This
year as before only the students in receipt of scholarships paid fees
and without an additional grant this resulted in a shortfall which
accounts for the decision not to appoint full time permanent faculty.

Income from production has
also been unstable and not sufficient for the needs of development.
During the first half of the year there were relatively few production
commissions and the shortfall arising then has not completely been made
up since the flow of work improved. There in a backlog of repairs and
purchases needed but with orders already on the books the situation is
expected to improve.

In this year grants by way
of scholarships were received from Chhattisgarh state government, and
National Foundation for India, New Delhi.

Future

Jandarshan intends to
continue and develop its present activities. In the area of education,
Jandarshan hopes to improve the training course and expand its role in
public education by offering more screening and workshops for specialist
and general audiences.

Management

An Executive committee
elected by the general body of the society oversees the setup. It
includes eminent men and women from media, education, performing arts
and civil society. The staff consists of one project co-ordinator, seven
technical hands, an office clerk, and a part-time accountant. Jandarshan
accounts are duly audited by a chartered accountant.